The Children's Learning Center: A Study of a Self-Manipulative Physical Environment on Early Childhood Learning.

Studio of Environmental Technology, Providence, RI.

The Children's Learning Center in Providence, Rhode Island, is a prototypical teaching/learning environment for preschool children aged 3-5. The center represents the first prototypical application of the Multi-Activity Zones for Education (MAZE) system. This study attempts to demonstrate and test the physical and operational performances of the MAZE system and explore its educational implications. The responsiveness of the MAZE system to these concepts has been achieved by redefining the nature of two elements that make up an environment--space and hardware. A nonprogramed, multifunctional informal space and a set of mobile, activity modules that function as environmental control elements, i.e., containers for a wide range of teaching/learning media and stimuli for tactile interactions, have replaced traditional, monofunctional space and equipment. These modules operate in spatial zones and can continuously generate and transform a wide range and scale of activities. Since these modules can be manipulated by all of the teaching/learning participants, the system responds to individual as well as to group behavioral and educational needs. To secure an evaluation of the multifunctionality of MAZE, the modules were physically manipulated over a 10-week period, providing continual changes in the learning environment. Each modification of a module and/or activity zone was preceded by observations that recorded the effects of physical change on learning, child-child and teacher-child interaction. (Photographs may reproduce poorly.) (Author/MLF)